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Massmart opens new Makro in Alberton, with a unique and exciting shopping experience

Makro has expanded its presence in Gauteng with the opening of a new urban store in Alberton on 24 April 2012. Massmart invested R400 million rand to build the 19 008m2 Makro Alberton store. The Makro store will give spaza shops, small businesses, reseller and retailer shoppers easy access to over 55 000 branded products, leveraging Walmart’s relationship with Massmart. Makro currently has 18 stores countrywide, eight of them situated in Gauteng.

Commenting on the opening of the store, Makro Managing Director, Doug Jones said: “Makro is delighted to bring a new shopping experience to the community of Alberton and the southern suburbs. This store has been built using green-building concepts, local labour and locally-sourced construction materials. We have also created a total of 393 new job opportunities.”
“Makro also caters for small businesses that need affordable access to a wide range of consumables for their daily requirements,” said Jones.

“The layout of Makro Alberton will make it easier for the larger commercial customer to shop
– with a dedicated check out area completely separate from the retail side, metal cages to hold stock for them overnight if necessary and a wide overhanging roof to make collection even easier,” adds Jones.

Makro has introduced greener built stores offering a larger fresh range, including a restyled butchery and fresh fruit and vegetables.
Chris Nezar, the Marketing Director of Makro SA, gave us some background about Makro to illustrate what we can expect from the new store. Nezar said: “Makro was originally geared towards serving the commercial customer, but over the years, retail customers were also encouraged to become cardholders and take advantage of the low prices. As a natural progression it was also decided to “tweak” the food offering to cater for retail shopper needs.”

Alexander Haw, Massmart’s Group Environmental Manager added: “This is also a good model for energy efficient store design in retail.”
The building incorporates high-performance refrigeration, daylight harvesting, heat reclamation systems (regulating the store’s temperature) and it’s the first store making use of LEDs – this all contributes towards minimizing electricity consumption and improving overall energy efficiency.

Makro is committed to the upliftment of surrounding communities, Alberton is no exception and to celebrate the store opening and invest in the community, a donation will be given to charity organisations in the area.

Ends
Notes to editors:

The building incorporates natural lighting to reduce the amount of electrical lighting required

Other measures that were put in place to reduce overall energy consumption include motion sensors in all the offices and storage rooms which enables the power to switch on when somebody enters the room, and automatically switch off when that person leaves

The store uses a thermal storage system to produce chilled water for its air-conditioning, which reduces demand during peak periods

The trading floor is temperature controlled using hot water when required which is obtained with the assistance of heat reclaimed from the refrigeration system

An energy efficient refrigeration solution with the latest energy saving features, automated night blinds, high speed doors and better insulation has been installed to reduce temperature loss. This refrigeration solution also uses carbon dioxide, which is 100% natural and has zero ozone depleting (ODP) and global warming potential (GWP) ratings

The restrooms use a metered water system for taps and a cistern dual flushing system for toilets, which assists in reducing water usage

A horticultural consultant was employed to ensure that the plants used on the site are water-wise and include mostly indigenous plants

About Massmart
Massmart is a South African-based globally competitive regional management group, invested in a portfolio of differentiated, complementary, focused wholesale and retail formats, each reliant on high volumes and operational excellence as the foundation of price leadership, in the distribution of mainly branded consumer goods for cash. It is the third largest distributor of consumer goods in Africa, the leading retailer of general merchandise, liquor and home improvement equipment and supplies, and the leading wholesaler of basic foods. Massmart currently has a presence of 377 stores in Africa including 44 stores outside of South Africa.

About Makro
Makro has 19 warehouse clubs in South Africa trading in food, general merchandise and liquor with stores located in major metropolitan areas, operating under a low cost/low margin trading philosophy. This ethos enables high volume distribution of merchandise at competitive prices.Makro’s value offering to all customers also includes quality brands and bulk volumes if required. The most differentiating feature is true one stop shopping with everything available under one roof .

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